Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The cause of the Jews' rejection from justice, which the Apostle began to give in the preceding chapter, verse 30 — namely the Jews' unbelief in Christ — he pursues and presses in this chapter. Hence first, up to verse 12, he opposes and prefers the justice of God to the justice of the law, and teaches that it is situated in the faith of Christ.
Secondly, from verse 12 to the end, he shows that God called to this faith and justice not only the Jews, but all the Gentiles, and consequently that the Gospel ought to be preached to them, and he proves this by the testimony of Isaiah, David, and Moses.
Finally in the last verse, from Isaiah he proves that God calls the Jews to Christ, but that they are unwilling to believe in Christ and contradict Him.
Vulgate Text: Romans 10:1-21
1. Brethren, the will of my heart, indeed, and my prayer to God, is for them unto salvation. 2. For I bear them witness, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3. For they, not knowing the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own, have not submitted themselves to the justice of God. 4. For the end of the law is Christ, unto justice to every one that believeth. 5. For Moses wrote, that the justice which is of the law, the man that shall do it, shall live by it. 6. But the justice which is of faith, speaketh thus: Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down. 7. Or who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. 8. But what saith the Scripture? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart. This is the word of faith, which we preach. 9. For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10. For, with the heart, we believe unto justice; but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. 11. For the scripture saith: Whosoever believeth in him, shall not be confounded. 12. For there is no distinction of the Jew and the Greek: for the same is Lord over all, rich unto all that call upon him. 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. 14. How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? 15. And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things! 16. But all do not obey the gospel. For Isaias saith: Lord, who hath believed our report? 17. Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. 18. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world. 19. But I say: Hath not Israel known? First, Moses saith: I will provoke you to jealousy by that which is not a nation; by a foolish nation I will anger you. 20. But Isaias is bold, and saith: I was found by them that did not seek me: I appeared openly to them that asked not after me. 21. But to Israel he saith: All the day long have I spread my hands to a people that believeth not, and contradicteth me.
Verse 1: The Will of My Heart and Prayer for the Jews
1. BRETHREN, THE WILL INDEED OF MY HEART, AND PRAYER TO GOD, IS MADE FOR THEM (the Jews) UNTO SALVATION. — For "will" the Greek is ευδοκια (eudokia), that is, an inclined affection of the soul, and I have a vehement desire toward the Jews, that they may be saved. Hence I pray and beseech for them, and this lest they themselves should think that I have said these sad things concerning their repudiation and rejection from Christ out of hatred, but rather out of compassion. So St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius.
Verse 2: A Zeal of God, but Not According to Knowledge
2. FOR I BEAR THEM WITNESS, THAT THEY HAVE A ZEAL OF GOD, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE, — but according to error, as if to say: The Jews have an erring zeal for defending the Mosaic law, and think that they are driven by the zeal of God, but they err; because in truth they act against the honor and truth of God, when they oppose the faith and law of Christ, which is the true law of God.
Verse 3: Ignorant of the Justice of God
3. FOR BEING IGNORANT OF THE JUSTICE OF GOD, AND SEEKING THEIR OWN TO ESTABLISH, HAVE NOT BEEN SUBJECTED TO THE JUSTICE OF GOD. — By "the justice of God" Paul understands that which makes us just, not before men, but before God; which is situated in the reconciliation of man with God through the faith of Christ, just as the justice of the Jews was situated in the fulfillment of the law before men. Whence Paul calls it "his own justice," that is, brought forth from his own and from the powers of nature and from the works of the law: for to this is opposed "the justice of God," that is, proceeding from God and from God's grace. For "are not subjected," the Greek has more clearly ουχ υπεταγησαν, they did not submit themselves to it, they did not obey, as if to say: Because the Jews sought their justice from the law, hence they were unwilling to submit themselves to the faith of Christ, and consequently neither to the true justice of God. For God established this in the faith and obedience of Christ. Whence follows:
Verse 4: Christ is the End of the Law
4. FOR THE END OF THE LAW (is) CHRIST, UNTO JUSTICE TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVES. — You will ask, how is Christ the end of the law? St. Augustine first answers that Christ, fulfilling the shadows of the law, terminated it and made it cease. So he himself in book II Against the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets, chapter VII, and St. Gregory, homily 16 on Ezekiel.
Secondly, Chrysostom and Photius: "End," they say, that is, the perfection and consummation of the law is Christ, because what the law could not do, namely make man just, this Christ did. For the Hebrew כלה cala, like the Greek τελος (that is, end) signifies both consummation and consumption.
Thirdly, Anselm: "End," he says, that is, perfection, of the law is Christ, namely because without the faith of Christ, the law could not, nor can be, perfected and fulfilled.
Fourthly and most aptly, Theodoret: "End," that is, as the Syriac renders, nob sache, that is, the aim of the law is Christ, because the whole law is referred, tends, leads and calls to Christ, as to its end, terminus, and aim. Here Paul elegantly and ingeniously alludes in the Hebrew word תורה tora, that is, law, to the root ירה iara, that is, to throw, to shoot, as if the law were an arrow, which aims at Christ, as its mark, and this "unto justice to every believer," so that namely through faith in Christ all who believe in Him may obtain justice. By faith here understand not bare and solitary faith, but that which extends and stretches itself in offspring of hope, penitence, and good works, like a fruitful mother — see Canon 3.
Morally, St. Augustine, in Sentences, no. 106: "The end of the faithful is Christ, to Whom when the intention of the runner has arrived, he has nothing more that he can find, but has Him in Whom he ought to remain."
Verse 5: He Who Doeth the Justice of the Law Shall Live in It
5. FOR MOSES WROTE (Lev. XVIII, 5), THAT THE JUSTICE WHICH IS OF THE LAW, THE MAN WHO HATH DONE IT, SHALL LIVE IN IT. — Here the Apostle proves what he said in verse 3, namely that the Jews, because they wish to establish their own justice from the law, are not subject to the justice of God, which alone is the true justice. He proves this same thing from the fact that justice from the law is plainly diverse from, indeed adverse and opposite to, the justice of God: both because God established this His justice not in the law, but in the faith of Christ; and (what the Apostle properly urges here) because Moses promised only temporal life to legal justice and to those just according to the law: but God promises salvation and eternal life to the justice of faith, that is, to His own faithful just ones.
Note: "To do the justice which is of the law," or to do legal justice, is to do and fulfill the precepts of the law. For these precepts are objective for legal justice, that is, they are the legally just itself, or the just and equitable which the law prescribes, and which makes the one observing legally and civilly just, in that he himself conforms to his law and rule. Therefore "the man who shall have done this legal justice shall live in it": with spiritual life, namely, through justification, says St. Augustine, as if Paul said: But the law cannot be fulfilled without the faith of Christ; therefore the law itself tacitly admonishes and indicates that we should beg the grace of Christ: for that this assumption is to be understood and supplied here, the Apostle leaves us — so judges St. Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, ch. XXIX. So also St. Chrysostom and Oecumenius explain it almost the same way.
But Theodoret, Ambrose, and Anselm explain more aptly, as if Paul said: He who shall have done the justice of the law, namely the just thing which is prescribed by the law, this man shall live in it; that is, he shall not be punished with death, which the law often threatens against its transgressors; and he shall live a prosperous temporal life, which the law promises to those who keep it, Ezekiel XX, Leviticus XVIII. Supply here the other part of the antithesis, as if to say: But on the contrary, he who has embraced the faith of Christ, this man shall live the life of justice in this world, and in the future shall live the life of salvation, glory, and eternal felicity. For this antithesis Paul tacitly signifies here and at verse 9.
Verses 6 and 7: Who Shall Ascend into Heaven? Who Shall Descend into the Deep?
6 and 7. SAY NOT IN THINE HEART: WHO SHALL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN? THAT IS TO BRING CHRIST DOWN: OR WHO SHALL DESCEND INTO THE DEEP? THAT IS TO BRING UP CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. — Note: The phrase "that is" — or as it is in Greek, τουτ' εστι, that is, this signifies — explicates the words of Deuteronomy XXX, 14, by allegorical signification, as I shall presently explain. As if to say: Moses said, "Who shall ascend into heaven?" which allegorically signifies: Who shall ascend into heaven, to bring down Christ? that is, to bring Christ down from heaven? "Who shall descend into the abyss?" which allegorically signifies: Who shall descend into the abyss, to call back Christ from the dead? that is, to recall Christ from the dead? For Paul understands (in his explanation of the allegory of Moses), which He adds afterward — that is, He leaves to the reader to repeat the "who shall descend, and who shall ascend?" For this sentence of his is to be filled out thus: Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, who shall ascend into heaven, to bring down Christ? Who shall descend into the abyss? that is, who shall descend into the abyss, to call back Christ from the dead?
Hence the Syriac clearly translates: Who climbs the heavens, and Meschicho, that is, Christ the Messiah, brought down? Who descended into the abyss of the underworld, and brought up Meschicho from the dead? Where note, the Syriac correctly and clearly renders the Apostle's infinitives by past tenses, because the Hebrew infinitive is put in place of all tenses. The sense therefore is: Do not say, for the certainty of faith and for justification it is necessary that Christ be present, that we may see Him, and by His look and presence be healed and justified; and thus that He must be called back either from heaven or from hell. Do not think that this is asked of you: for the way of justification is now near and easy, if you believe in Christ as dead and resurrected, though absent; and you confess this with heart and mouth. As if to say: Do not say, O Jew, accustomed to the law: the law of Moses is near to us, and plain; the faith and justice of Christ promises salvation, but it is obscure and remote — for you err and are deceived, for the matter is not so, because, as follows:
Verse 8: The Word is Nigh Thee, in Thy Mouth and in Thy Heart
8. THE WORD (of justice and salvation) IS NEAR, IN THY MOUTH AND IN THY HEART: THIS IS THE WORD OF FAITH, WHICH WE PREACH, — and Paul more clearly explains this with the words immediately following. That this is the genuine sense of this passage is clear both from what precedes and what follows, and from the very words of Moses, Deuteronomy XXX, 12, which Paul cites here, and which I shall transcribe a little below.
Note: The Apostle, as if carried away by the abundance and vehemence of wisdom and spirit, and turning himself in all directions in order to persuade the Jews of the faith of Christ, to discuss and dispel their objections and difficulties, inserts this parenthesis after his manner, as I said in Canon 38; for the antithesis of the preceding verse, concerning the justice of God opposed to the justice of the law, he places and completes only below at verse 9.
Chrysostom explains this otherwise, as if to say: "Do not say," that is, let not the incarnation and resurrection of Christ seem incredible to you, and, as Theodoret says, do not be too curious in scrutinizing these things. Hence Anselm also explains thus: Do not say: No one has ascended into heaven, because this is to deny that Christ ascended. Nor say that no one has descended into hell, because this is to deny calling Christ back from hell, that is, to deny that He suffered and descended into hell. So almost also Vatablus: Do not say, he says, O unbelieving Jew: Who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from on high? As if to say: To say, Who shall ascend into heaven? is to wish to call Christ from heaven to earth, and to affirm that He has not yet descended to us. Who shall descend into the abyss, to bring us the Gospel from there? — that is, Christ, to call Him back from the dead. As if to say: To say, Who shall descend into the abyss? is to affirm that Christ has not yet risen from death and hell, into which He descended dying.
But all these are more forced and more involved. Far more forcedly do Beza and Calvin twist these words when they so explain: Do not say: How shall I be justified, so that I may ascend to heaven and escape hell? because Christ ascended into heaven, that He might pave the way for you of ascending thither; and He descended to hell, that He might free you from there. For this sense overturns the words of the Apostle and of Moses. For "who shall descend" — to pass over other things — is the speech of one wishing and seeking, not of one fleeing, just like the "who shall ascend." The first sense, therefore, is the plainest and most fitting.
Paul cites here Deuteronomy XXX, 13. Where note: For "who shall descend into the abyss?" Moses has, "who shall cross over the sea?" because Paul does not so much cite the letter and words of Moses, as only allegorically alludes to the sayings of Moses: hence he does not render word for word in everything. Hence note secondly: Although Cajetan, Adam, Pererius, and Toletus think Moses is speaking literally of Christ and the justice of Christ — for they refer these words of his to penitence, of which Moses had treated in the same chapter, verse 1: for penitence and love of God, and consequently the pardon of sins, and even justice itself, cannot be had without the faith of Christ — yet it is far plainer that the Apostle alludes to Moses not literally, but only allegorically. For Moses literally, or in the literal sense, speaks not of Christ and His Gospel, but of the law given to the Jews, as is clear to one who looks closely. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Abulensis, Soto.
And this again is clear from what Moses adds in the same place: "Consider that I have set in thy sight this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil; that thou mayest love the Lord, etc., and that He may bless thee in the land which thou shalt enter to possess"; which words of Moses, spoken to his own Jews, are most clear. Therefore the words which Moses premises with these, saying: "This commandment which I command thee this day is not above thee, nor placed afar; nor situated in heaven, that thou mayest say: Who of us can ascend to heaven, to bring it down to us, that we may hear and fulfill it in deed? Nor placed across the sea, that thou shouldst plead and say: Who of us shall be able to cross over the sea, and to bring it back to us, that we may hear and do what has been commanded? But the word is very near thee in thy mouth, and in thy heart," that is, you have the law at hand, that in the heart, that is, in memory and mind, you may ruminate it, and pronounce it with the mouth: these words, I say, apply most fittingly to the faithful. For equally, indeed more, the Gospel and the faith of Christ are now at hand for all than once was the law of Moses: so that all can most easily embrace this faith with the heart, that is, with the mind, and pronounce it with the mouth, and so be justified and saved. Whence follows:
Verse 9: If Thou Confess with Thy Mouth and Believe in Thy Heart
9. IF THOU SHALT CONFESS WITH THY MOUTH THE LORD JESUS, AND IN THY HEART SHALT BELIEVE THAT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, THOU SHALT BE SAVED: — "Thou shalt be saved," namely from sin, and consequently from death and damnation, by the blessed and glorious resurrection with Christ. Or, "thou shalt be saved" here begun by justification, but completely thou shalt be saved in heaven by glorification. For this is the double salvation which Christ brought to us. Hence it is clear that justifying faith is not a special faith, by which I believe that my sins in particular have been forgiven by Christ. For the Apostle does not teach that this is the object of faith, and is to be believed, but this, namely that Christ rose from the dead.
Note: That one may be justified, he must believe not only the resurrection of Christ, but many other things concerning the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Christ Himself — namely, that He was made man for us, that He was crucified, that He descended to hell, that He is the Son of God, the Redeemer, etc. Yet the Apostle here puts only the article of Christ's resurrection, because that, as a terminus, presupposes and includes the others, and was most difficult to be believed by the Jews, who had killed Christ; for if they were to believe it, they would themselves retract their deed, repent, and believe all things concerning Christ that are to be believed. You see therefore that when the Apostle attributes our salvation to one thing, he does not exclude other things equally necessary for justice and salvation: thus, namely, when He attributes justice to faith, he does not exclude hope, fear, penitence, charity. See Canon 3.
Verse 10: With the Heart We Believe unto Justice
10. WITH THE HEART WE BELIEVE UNTO JUSTICE, BUT WITH THE MOUTH CONFESSION IS MADE UNTO SALVATION. — As if to say: The faith of the heart avails and is necessary for acquiring justice; but the profession of faith, which is made with the mouth, avails and is necessary for preserving and augmenting this justice, and consequently for meriting and obtaining eternal salvation.
Note: "In the heart," that is, in mind and will: for although faith is an act of the intellect, yet on account of its non-evidence and the difficulty of the act, the concurrence and command of a pious will is necessary, which commands the intellect to believe such obscure and difficult things; and thereby this act becomes free and meritorious. Therefore "heart" here signifies both will and intellect. Thus the heart is taken for the mind and intellect in Ecclesiasticus chapter XXI, verse 29: "In the mouth of fools is their heart; and in the heart of the wise is their mouth." And Hosea VII, 11: "Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart." Thus it is said:
The heart is wise, and the lung speaks; the gall stirs anger,
The spleen makes laughter, the liver compels love.
For the ancients thought that the seat of mind and wisdom, or certainly that the source is in the heart; just as anger is in the gall, love in the liver.
Hence is evident the necessity of good works. For the Apostle requires in this place not only faith, but also the profession of faith (which indeed is a heroic work of fortitude and piety) as necessary for salvation. To evade this dart and argument, a certain Illyrian at the colloquy of Altenburg translated this sentence of the Apostle thus: "Confession is made by the mouth concerning salvation"; but unskillfully and ineptly. For as it is believed in the heart not concerning justice, but unto justice: so also confession is made with the mouth not concerning salvation, but unto salvation; for this is what the Apostle's antithesis requires, and this is what the Greek εις signifies, namely, into or unto, but not concerning.
Secondly, that this version contradicts the Apostle is clear from the word "for," which gives the cause of what precedes, namely why he said: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart, thou shalt be saved." For the Apostle immediately adds the reason and cause of his saying, saying: "For with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." From this proposition rightly follows: therefore "if thou shalt believe in thy heart and confess with thy mouth, thou shalt be saved." Who does not see here, on both sides — both in the antecedent and in the consequent — that salvation is attributed not only to faith, but also to the profession of faith, and that the profession itself, equally with faith, saves and makes us saved?
Note secondly: It is permitted to invert and transpose this proposition of the Apostle in this way: "With the heart also it is believed unto salvation, and with the mouth also confession is made unto justice"; for before an adult is baptized and justified, he must profess the faith of Christ with his mouth. Yet more aptly the Apostle attributes to the faith of the heart justice, but to the profession of the mouth salvation: because to faith and penitence properly corresponds justification, but to profession salvation, as is clear in the Martyrs, who through the profession of faith obtained salvation and eternal glory. Add: the Apostle takes justice and salvation almost for the same thing. For justice is salvation begun, and salvation is justice completed; and these two are connected: for justice leads the just one through to salvation. Therefore the Apostle understands one under the other, as is clear from what follows. Thus in the next chapter, verse 5, he says the remnants of Israel were made saved, that is justified. Finally, hence St. Augustine, in book I On Faith and the Creed, teaches that faith requires the duty not only of the heart, but also of the tongue, namely the profession of faith.
So St. Gordius the martyr, when he had been condemned to the pyre on account of the faith of Christ, and many condoling with him wept, said: "Weep not over me, but over the enemies of God, who prepare fire for us, but treasure up for themselves the burnings of Gehenna. I, for the name of the Lord, am ready to undergo a thousand deaths, if it be necessary." And when others insisted that he should at least with mouth deny Christ, while retaining Him with the heart: "The tongue," he said, "which I retain by the benefit of Christ, cannot be brought to deny its Author. With the heart we believe unto justice, with the mouth we confess unto salvation." Therefore with cheerful countenance he willingly cast himself into the punishment of fire. St. Basil is witness, in the sermon On Gordius the Martyr.
Thus Eleazar under Antiochus, ordered to eat swine's flesh against the law, when friends brought him other meat, that he might pretend it to be swine's flesh, and eating it might escape death, said: "It is not worthy of our age to feign, that many young men, because of my simulation, may be deceived. For even if at the present time I should be snatched from human punishments, yet neither alive nor dead shall I escape the hand of the Almighty. Wherefore by departing life bravely, I shall indeed appear worthy of old age; but to the young I shall leave a brave example, if with a prompt mind and bravely for the most grave and most holy laws I shall undergo an honorable death," II Maccabees VI, 24.
Verse 11: Whosoever Believeth in Him Shall Not Be Confounded
11. THE SCRIPTURE SAITH (Isaiah XXVIII, 16): EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT BE CONFOUNDED, — shall not be put to shame, shall not be frustrated in his faith and hope, but shall altogether obtain the justice and salvation hoped for. The Hebrew is לא יחיש lo iachis, that is, he shall not hasten — that is, he shall not be confounded: for the bashful, when they are confounded, hasten to depart and to hide themselves out of shame. Perhaps for lo iachis, the Septuagint read לא יבוש lo iabos, that is, he shall not be confounded. Here it is clear that under faith also profession of faith, and consequently good works, are to be understood. For the Apostle wishes to prove what he said, namely: "With the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." He proves this from Isaiah, who says: "Everyone who believes in Him (Christ) shall not be confounded." Therefore when he says: "Every one who believes," understand also one who professes with mouth, and who obeys Christ — this man shall not be confounded, but shall be saved. For the Apostle has to prove here both that the profession of faith, as well as faith itself, is required for justice and salvation. So we commonly say, if you believe this advocate, you will win the case: if you believe, that is, if you obey him, if you follow and execute his counsel. See Canons 3 and 4.
Verse 12: There is No Distinction of Jew and Greek
12. THERE IS NO DISTINCTION OF THE JEW AND THE GREEK. — The Apostle presses in the words of Isaiah the word "all," as if to say: Every one, whether Jew or Greek, who believes in Christ, shall be saved. For God in the matter of justice and salvation does not distinguish, does not care, whether you are Jew or Greek, that is, Gentile. He says this against the Jews, who arrogated to themselves alone the justice, the care, and the friendship of God. Therefore the Apostle here passes from the prior part of the chapter (in which thus far he has proved that true justice consists in faith and obedience to Christ, and therefore that the Jews unbelieving in Christ have fallen from justice) to the other part, in which he proves the calling of the Gentiles. For God has sanctioned and decreed that the faithful Gentiles, the unbelieving Jews being excluded, should succeed in the Church, justice and salvation of God.
Verse 13: Whosoever Shall Call upon the Name of the Lord
13. THE SAME IS LORD OF ALL, RICH UNTO ALL THAT CALL UPON HIM. — "Rich," that is, affluent, liberal, munificent, and copiously bestowing His graces and His gifts. It is metalepsis.
WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD, SHALL BE SAVED. — You see that salvation, which in verse 11 he attributes to faith, is here attributed to the invocation of God. Whoever therefore shall call upon God as is fitting, namely with due faith, hope, contrition, and charity, this man shall be saved. For otherwise it is certain that Turks, heretics, and wicked Christians, even though they invoke God, are not to be saved, but to be damned. Furthermore Paul cites this sentence from Joel, II, 32.
Note: The Apostle here opposes the invocation of God to interior faith. Hence under invocation he understands profession, thanksgiving, praise, vow, sacrifice, oath, and every external worship of God: just as he understands the same under the name of oath, Psalm LXII, 12 and elsewhere. It is synecdoche.
Verse 14: How Shall They Call on Him in Whom They Have Not Believed?
14. HOW THEN SHALL THEY CALL ON HIM IN WHOM THEY HAVE NOT BELIEVED? — The Innovators twist these words against the invocation of the Saints: If, they say, we do not believe in the Saints, but in God, how shall we invoke them? I respond: The word "therefore" signifies that this sentence is referred and inferred from the preceding speech of Joel, who has: "Everyone who shall invoke the name of the Lord shall be saved." Therefore here is to be repeated the "name of the Lord," in this way: "How shall they invoke the name of the Lord, in whom they have not believed?" As if to say: How shall they invoke God, as Lord and author of salvation and of every good, in whom they do not believe? For thus God alone is invoked by the faithful in the Church, namely as Lord and author of their salvation. For otherwise also that the term "to be invoked" is attributed to men, when we implore their help, is clear from Isaiah XXXIV, 12; Hosea VII, 11. And thus we invoke the Saints, not as authors, but as helpers and intercessors for us before God.
HOW THEN? — As if to say: If not to the Jews alone, but to all the Gentiles without distinction who invoke God, justice and salvation has been promised by God: therefore faith is necessary for all, and the preaching of faith. For no one can invoke God and Christ in whom he does not believe. But no one can believe, unless it is announced and preached to him what is to be believed, and what God wills and commands to be believed. For little by little and step by step the Apostle tends to this, that he may show that not only to the Jews, but to any Gentiles whatever (God so ordaining) the Gospel must be preached, so that the Jews may not wonder if Paul himself is not the Apostle, preacher, and doctor of the Jews, but of the Gentiles.
Note second: Paul beautifully describes here the order of justification, or the order of things by which one arrives at righteousness and salvation. In this order, first is the mission of preachers; second, the preaching of the Gospel itself; third, the faith of the hearers; fourth, their invocation and worship of God; fifth, salvation, both present (namely, justification from the disease of sin) and future (namely, liberation from death and corruption through heavenly glory).
Note: The Apostle draws this question as a kind of consequence from the preceding verse. There he said: "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"; from that proposition he here infers: "How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?" That is: If, in order for men to be saved, they must call upon God the Savior, then they must first believe in Him and acknowledge Him as their Savior. For no one calls upon Him in whom he does not believe and whom he does not acknowledge, since from such a one he expects no help or aid.
This question, "How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?" must therefore be resolved into a negation in this way: Therefore it is necessary to believe in God in order to call upon Him, because no one can call upon God in whom he does not believe. If, then, this invocation of God is general and common to all the Gentiles, then faith and the preaching of faith are likewise common to them all. Here Paul destroys the error of the Jews, who, just as they claimed righteousness for themselves alone, also claimed faith and the preaching of the Gospel for themselves alone. He himself teaches the contrary here, namely that the Gospel is to be preached to all the Gentiles, that they may believe and be justified and saved; "because God is rich unto all who call upon Him": if unto all, then unto the Gentiles as well as unto the Jews.
Verse 15: How Beautiful are the Feet of Them that Preach the Gospel
15. HOW SHALL THEY BELIEVE IN HIM OF WHOM THEY HAVE NOT HEARD? AND HOW SHALL THEY HEAR WITHOUT A PREACHER? AND HOW SHALL THEY PREACH UNLESS THEY BE SENT? — This is a climax, or an elegant and forceful gradation, by which the Apostle gathers, from the fact that God through Joel promised salvation to all who call upon Him, that the Gospel must be preached to all the Gentiles. He proves it thus: God is rich unto all, and wills the salvation of all; but they cannot be saved unless they call upon God; they cannot call upon Him unless they believe in Him; they cannot believe unless they hear His heralds; they cannot hear unless preachers preach; these cannot preach unless they are sent. Therefore, from first to last, it is to be concluded that God, who wills the salvation of all the Gentiles, has willed and decreed to send His heralds, namely the Apostles, to all the Gentiles, that they may preach the Gospel to them, through which they themselves may believe, be justified, and be saved.
Note on "How shall they preach unless they be sent?" — surely not by a king or civil magistrate, but by God, who sends His ministers to call men to faith, righteousness, and His Kingdom; for this belongs to God alone. Hence it is clear that no one is to be listened to unless he is lawfully sent to preach by God, as is sufficiently evident from Isaiah, whom the Apostle cites here. From God, I say, either proximately and immediately, in which case miracles or supernatural signs are needed, by which he who is sent may prove to men that he is sent by God; or mediately, namely by being sent by Christ's vicars and successors, that is, by the Pontiffs and Bishops, as is ordinarily done from Christ's institution. See the comments at chapter 1, verse 1.
The Apostle adds: AS IT IS WRITTEN (Isaiah LII, 7): HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PREACH PEACE, OF THOSE WHO PREACH GOOD THINGS! — The sense is: How beautiful, sweet, and pleasing will be the coming and the going about of those who announce the Gospel and its good and joyful tidings, namely peace with God, grace, righteousness, and salvation! Or: How welcome and acceptable to their hearers will be the Apostles, announcing and evangelizing these good things to men throughout the whole world! It is a synecdoche; for the foot is put for the man: thus the feet of those who evangelize are men, namely the Apostles, going about and evangelizing throughout the whole world.
Toletus beautifully notes that the feet of the Apostles can be praised: first, for swiftness, by which they ran most rapidly through the whole world; second, for fortitude; third, for cleanliness; but fourth and chiefly for beauty; because not by arms, nor by threats, but by beauty and loveliness — that is, by the sweetness of a most holy life and doctrine — they effectively drew men's minds to faith, and indeed converted kings, philosophers, and Barbarians, and most wicked men, and that throughout the whole world and in the briefest time, which is the likeness of an immense miracle. This beauty of the feet, therefore, signifies the splendor of the wisdom, doctrine, virtue, and piety of the Apostles. As a symbol of this, Origen teaches that Christ washed the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper, and that this prophecy of Isaiah then began to be fulfilled.
Note: In Isaiah, for quam speciosi, in Hebrew it is נאוו ma navu, which Toletus and some others translate, "how desirable and to be longed for are the feet of those who evangelize!" — so that navu would be a niphal from the root אוה ava, meaning to long for, to desire, to covet. But more learned Hebrews think that נאוו navu is not niphal but cal; and that it is so is plain from the fact that the letter nun in navu has a kamets, as verbs in cal have. If it were niphal, it ought to have chiriq or patach. Again, this is clear from the Septuagint, St. Jerome, Pagninus, Arias, and others, who commonly translate it, "how beautiful and lovely are the feet!" The root, therefore, of נאוו navu is נוה nava, which is akin in letters and meaning to the root אוה ava. For just as ava means to desire and to covet, so nava means to be pleasant, joyful, comely, beautiful, lovely, delightful, and gracious — and to invite, entice, and arouse desire. Hence nava often takes the letter aleph, to signify this relation and mutual goodwill by which a beautiful and pleasant thing excites desire of itself, and in turn that longing and desire is borne and carried off toward the beautiful and pleasant thing.
Such, then, were the feet of the Apostles, and the Apostles themselves, who by the grace, beauty, and loveliness of their speech and conduct were welcome, accepted, longed for, and desired by the world, and drew all men into love and reverence for themselves and for Christ.
The Septuagint, for quam speciosi, render ως ωρα, that is, "as the hour upon the mountains, the feet of him who announces the hearing." By the word ωρα, says St. Jerome, is signified the time, beauty, care, and solicitude of those who evangelize. Hence Tertullian (Against Marcion, IV.xiii) reads: "I am present while it is the hour, in the mountains, evangelizing the hearing of peace." The same author elsewhere (Against Marcion, V.ii) reads: "How seasonable are the feet of those who evangelize peace!" St. Cyril takes ωραια for vere (springtime), as if to say: As the spring, which after winter shines with pure light upon the mountains, gladdens men, fills all fields and mountains with many-colored flowers, and makes everything green with wondrous loveliness; so the coming of Christ and the Apostles made all things bloom and flourish with heavenly virtues and ornaments. So Cyril. Hence St. Ambrose, in Epistle 11 to Irenaeus, reading according to the Septuagint, says "as ripeness on the mountains," and explains it: "Christ came to us as ripeness, so that nothing might be unripe, nothing immature in our counsels, nothing harsh, nothing rough in our works and morals." And Tertullian (Against Marcion, V.v) reads: "how ripe are the feet of those who evangelize good things!"
Truly it seems quite likely to me that long ago the Septuagint codices were corrupted; for they appear, in place of ως ωρα (as we now read it corruptly), to have translated ως ωραιοι, "how beautiful." For so the Hebrew has it, and so does St. Paul here, who usually follows the Septuagint. An indication of this is also that Tertullian sometimes reads, "while it is the hour," and elsewhere, "how seasonable" or "how ripe are the feet." In this he sufficiently suggests that certain Greek copies read ως ωραια, others ως ωρα, and from this he himself is deceived, thinking that ωραια is derived from and corrupted out of ωρα and signifies "seasonable" or "ripe," whereas it signifies "beautiful" and "lovely," as is plain from the Hebrew.
Verse 16: Lord, Who Hath Believed Our Report?
16. BUT NOT ALL OBEY THE GOSPEL. — Paul meets an objection. For some Jew might say: If the feet and voices of the Apostles are so beautiful, why do so many not believe them, why do most Jews reject them? Paul answers that the cause is that many, attached to their vices or to their Judaism, are unwilling to believe and obey the Gospel, and therefore turn their eyes, ears, and minds away from this beauty and loveliness of the Gospel and of those who evangelize.
FOR ISAIAH SAYS. — Paul here proves that not all believe the Gospel, from Isaiah, who in chapter 53, verse 1, says: "Lord, who has believed our report?" That is: Lord, how few have believed our preaching!
Note: The enim here signifies the cause, not of the thing, but of the statement, that is, of the proposition. For he gives the cause not of the Jews' unbelief and disobedience, but of the truth and certainty of the proposition — that is, why this proposition and assertion of Paul, "not all obey the Gospel," is true, certain, and infallible. For Isaiah's prediction, by which he foretold the disobedience and unbelief of the Jews, was not the cause of this disobedience and unbelief; rather it was the cause why this proposition can be truly and certainly asserted, namely that the Jews are unbelieving and disobedient. For Isaiah foretold this — or rather the Holy Spirit, who cannot be deceived or deceive. It is similar, if I should say: This man is a homicide, for Peter and Paul testify the same; this testimony is not the cause why this man is a homicide, but why he can be truly asserted and called one.
LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? — that is, our discourse, which we Apostles have heard from God and from Christ — so Ambrose; or rather, as Chrysostom says, which they have heard from us evangelizing, for what follows is, "therefore faith is from hearing." Isaiah speaks in the person of the Apostles, as if to say: Very few of the Jews have believed our discourse and our evangelizing. It is a Hebraism; for שמעה schemua, that is, "hearing," is put for "preaching," which is heard, as the act for its object. See Canon 30.
Verse 17: Faith Cometh by Hearing
17. THEREFORE FAITH IS FROM HEARING; AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF CHRIST. — Paul infers, from the words of Isaiah just cited, his own proposition which he proposed in verse 14, namely that no one can believe by faith unless first what is to be believed is set forth and preached to him, that he may hear it. He proves this from Isaiah, who says: "Lord, who has believed our report?" From this it follows that the faith by which we believe Christ and the Gospel is from hearing; and hearing is "by the word of Christ," namely by the preaching of the Apostles, who as ambassadors sent by Christ preach His word.
Some less correctly explain it as: "By the word of Christ," meaning by the command of Christ, who sends the Apostles to preach, so that the Gentiles may hear the Gospel.
Verse 18: Their Sound Hath Gone Forth into All the Earth
18. BUT I SAY, HAVE THEY NOT HEARD? — The sed here is equivalent to jam vero or quin vero. For the Apostle insists and presses what he had said, namely that faith is from hearing, and hearing is by the word of Christ, as if to say: I said that faith should arise from hearing, and hearing should arise from the preaching of the word of God and of Christ; but now indeed, I ask: Have they not in fact had this hearing? Have not all the nations heard the Gospel? That is: They certainly have heard, for "into all the earth their sound has gone forth." By all these things the Apostle proves, against the opinion of the Jews, that the Gospel must be preached to the Gentiles.
Note first: The audierunt — that is, partly "they have heard," partly "they will hear," as I shall show more clearly shortly. Again, "they have heard" — supply, not the Jews, as some wish, but the Gentiles; for of these follows: "into all the earth their sound has gone forth." For of the Jews he subjoins in verse 19: "Has not Israel known?"
Note second: This opinion — that the Gospel of salvation was to be preached only to the Jews, and that they alone were to be called by the Messiah to His Kingdom and Church, and not the Gentiles — was so settled in the Jews' minds that even St. Peter and the Apostles sometimes doubted (as appears in Acts 10) whether it was permitted to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles; and that for three reasons: first, because the Messiah had been promised to Abraham and his seed, not to outsiders; second, because hitherto the Jews alone had had the Church of God, so that it seemed incredible the Church should be transferred to the Gentiles; third, because the Jews hated the Gentiles as idolaters and uncircumcised, and judged them entirely unworthy of this grace.
AND INDEED (in Greek μενουνγε, that is, atqui, as Vatablus and Erasmus translate; we saw a similar thing in chapter 9, verse 20), as if to say: But yet, or rather, David, though a Jew, testifies that all the nations have heard the preaching of the Gospel, when in Psalm 18 he says: THEIR SOUND HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH.
You will ask: what is the literal sense of this little verse of David; and whether in fact at this time, when Paul wrote this, the voice and preaching of the Apostles had gone out into all the earth, and unto all the nations?
First, St. Chrysostom and Theophylact think that the preaching of the Gospel was made among all nations before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. This opinion is favored by what ancient writers (witness St. Stapleton in his Life) record of St. Thomas the Apostle: that he evangelized very many and most remote peoples, even of India. Whence Emmanuel Nobrega, Provincial of our Society in Brazil, writes that in Brazil there still exist on the bank of a river the footprints of a holy man, who, in order to escape the unbelievers persecuting him, walked over the river and crossed it; and that he is called by the inhabitants Zome, who appears to be none other than St. Thomas. Again, more clearly, Father Nicolaus Trigautius writes in his Expedit. Sinens. (lib. I, at the end) that St. Thomas converted the Chinese, and that this is established from the Chaldean Breviary of the Malabar Church of St. Thomas, which has: "Through Lord Thomas the Chinese and the Ethiopians were converted to the truth." Hence also the Bishop of the Malabar Church is accustomed to call himself "Metropolitan of India and China." Finally, Josephus Acosta (De Novo orbe, lib. I, ch. 11) teaches that the Indies were known to the ancients. For Christ sent His Apostles through the whole world (Matthew 28:19): "Going, teach all nations"; in obedience to which command, after Christ's Ascension, they divided the world among themselves, and each went to and converted the provinces and nations assigned to him. This is true of the principal and more important provinces of that time, but not universally of absolutely all. Wherefore:
Second, this saying of St. Chrysostom is denied by Augustine (Epist. 80 to Hesychius), Anselm, Origen, and others. And it is rightly denied, as is plain from the regions and peoples of the West Indies and the daily voyages of the Spaniards in this age, by which many new and very great peoples, hitherto unknown, have been discovered, who have heard nothing of Christ and the Gospel.
Third, Ambrose and St. Thomas say that the fame of the Gospel anciently came to all nations, even if not the preaching itself nor the founding of churches. But this does not satisfy, nor does it seem true, as is established from the experience of the voyages of which I have already spoken.
Others explain it thus: "Into all the earth" — namely the earth subject to the Romans and known to us and to our world — the sound and preaching of the Gospel went out.
But I reply and say that the Psalmist, in Psalm 18 (as is plain from his very words, clear and open), speaks literally of the material heavens, which throughout the whole world by their beauty, motion, magnitude, variety of stars, splendor, and influences declare, and shall always declare, the glory of God; but in the allegorical sense — which the Holy Spirit here chiefly intends — the Psalmist speaks of the Apostles and their preaching.
The heavens, therefore, that declare the glory of God, are not literally — as Toletus and others would have it — but allegorically or symbolically the Apostles and the other heralds of the Gospel; whose sound has partly gone out, and partly will go out, into all the earth. For little by little this prophecy of David has been fulfilled and is even now being fulfilled. Hence the past is here put for the future, in the prophetic manner, on account of the certainty of a future thing: what the prophets foretell as future will be fulfilled as surely as if it were already done. By all these things the Apostle proves, as I have said, that the Gospel was preached — or is at some time to be preached — not to the Jews alone, but to all the Gentiles.
Verse 19: Hath Not Israel Known?
19. BUT I SAY (that is, Quin vero — see verse 18): HAS NOT ISRAEL KNOWN? — namely, that the Gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles also. For although Israel is unwilling to know this and is envious of it, yet he ought to have known and could have known it from Moses and Isaiah, who foretold it, as is plain from their words, which I cite and append here. So Origen interprets, as if to say: So true is it that the Gospel must be preached to the Gentiles that the prophets foretold this very thing to the Jews as future; therefore this is, or ought to be, known to the Jews themselves. St. Chrysostom expounds it differently, as if Paul were saying: Has not Israel heard the Gospel? Has he not known its power and efficacy? That is: He has heard altogether, he has known altogether — but by his stubbornness and obstinacy he is unwilling to believe Him and to obey Him.
But that the former sense is the genuine one is plain from the following words of Moses and Isaiah, by which they signify that the Jews would be stirred up to envy by the calling of the Gentiles.
MOSES FIRST SAYS (Deuteronomy 32:21): I WILL PROVOKE YOU TO EMULATION (that is, I, God, will rouse you, O Jews, who reject the Gospel, to wrath and envy) BY (that is, through) NO PEOPLE (those very Gentiles who used to seek, consult, and worship not Me but their own idols. Through the Apostles' preaching, then) BY (that is, through) A FOOLISH NATION (namely through the Gentiles, who hitherto have lived foolishly and stupidly worshiped idols), I WILL SEND YOU INTO ANGER — I will rouse in you the said bitterness and envy, as if to say: I, God, through Christ and the Apostles, will call to salvation lowly men, namely heathens, pagans, and barbarians, whom you, O Jews, do not even deign to call by the name of "nation," but are accustomed to call beasts or dogs. Whence, abashed, you may be provoked to imitate them — if you are sound and wise; if not, you will be stirred to emulation and indignation, as I both foresee and foretell will indeed come to pass. So St. Jerome (to Fabiola, treatise on the 42 mansions of the Hebrews in the desert, the last mansion).
Verse 20: I Was Found by Them that Did Not Seek Me
20. BUT ISAIAH IS BOLD, — that is, speaks boldly and freely, not fearing to offend his own. For on account of these and similar things, freely and courageously said and prophesied by him, Isaiah was sawn asunder with a saw by Manasseh and the Jews, as the most certain tradition of the Hebrews has it, says St. Jerome (in Isaiam, lib. XV, at the end). The same is handed down and sung also by Tertullian (Against Marcion, lib. III), saying:
"Whom (Isaiah) the people, sawn with wood, found without blemish, the demented one slew with cruel death, undeserving."
From Tertullian's saying "sawn with wood," you may infer that Isaiah was cut asunder with a wooden saw, and thus prefigured the type of Christ's wooden cross.
I WAS FOUND (that is, I shall be found: for prophetically the past is put for the future, through cognition, faith, love, following, and worship) BY THOSE WHO SOUGHT ME NOT (namely by the Gentiles, who formerly used to seek not Me but their idols, to consult and worship them. Through the Apostles' preaching, therefore) I APPEARED OPENLY TO THOSE WHO DID NOT INQUIRE OF ME — namely by those Gentiles who used to consult not Me, but their own Jove, Mars, and Venus, and to inquire of them.
Verse 21: All the Day Long Have I Stretched Out My Hands
21. BUT TO ISRAEL HE SAYS. — Note: The phrase ad Israel Erasmus translates as contra Israel ("against Israel"); but others better translate, de Israel autem dicit ("but concerning Israel he says"): for thus the Hebrew אל el often signifies, to which the Greek and the Latin ad correspond. So in Hebrews 1:7 it is said, "Ad angelos (that is, de angelis — concerning the angels) dicit"; indeed, אל el can be taken for the dative lamed. Hence the Syriac renders it לאיסראל lisrael, that is, Israeli autem dicit.
ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO AN UNBELIEVING AND CONTRADICTING PEOPLE. — That is: For the whole time during which I, Christ, lived among the Jews — but most of all on the cross, says Theodoret on Isaiah 65 — I have stretched out and daily stretch out My hands, as if pouring out upon them My gifts, that I may draw them to Myself and receive them into the bosom of My faith and grace; for among the Jews Christ spent His whole life teaching, and He Himself and the Apostles worked very many miracles; not to mention the oracles of Scripture by which God constantly called and calls them to Christ, and showed and shows Christ to them. But in vain: for the Jews, presuming on their Moses and attached to their Judaism, refuse to acknowledge Christ, say St. Chrysostom, Ambrose, Origen, and others.